Supply Lines

Ryloth is under siege. Trapped on the surface, Jedi Master Di rallies the local forces with the help of Cham Syndulla. Desperate to save them, the Jedi Council dispatches Senator Bail Organa and Representative Jar Jar Binks to the planet Toydaria, where they are to convince the neutral regent, King Katuunko, to send aid to Ryloth. Bail and Jar Jar must convince Toydaria that their cause is just — before it’s too late. Trade Federation envoy Lott Dod attempts to prevent the Toydarians from giving up their neutrality. Katuunko follows his conscience and secretly aids the Republic, which Jar Jar is able to keep secret from the snooping Trade Federation agents with his inimitable distractions.

Concept Art and Trivia

Supply Lines

This episode is a prequel to “Ambush,” the Season One premiere, as well as the Ryloth Trilogy that ended the first season. It establishes how King Katuunko was convinced enough to meet with Jedi Master Yoda, and the Republic effort that assisted Cham Syndulla. In sequence, “Supply Lines” would be followed by “Ambush,” “Storm Over Ryloth,” “Innocents of Ryloth” and “Liberty on Ryloth.”

The name of Jedi Master Di was deliberately chosen to foreshadow his grim fate. His full name, Ima-Gun Di is a pun on “I’m gonna die.” Slightly less direct is Admiral Dao, whose name is an anagram of D.O.A., or dead-on-arrival.

Jedi Master Di is a Nikto, a species first introduced in Star Wars: Episode V Return of the Jedi as underlings of Jabba the Hutt. Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones revealed that not all Nikto end up in the underworld, as several Nikto are seen among the Jedi Knights in the Geonosian arena.

At this point in the Clone Wars, Lott Dodd continues to claim neutrality in the war, despite Nute Gunray’s defection to the Separatist Alliance. Dodd claims that the Trade Federation — an immense corporate body that profits from the war — is no longer under Gunray’s influence.

Lott Dod makes mention of the Separatist Senate. This civilian political arm of the Confederacy, not yet seen in the series, will play an important rule in future episodes.

The fluttering nature of the Toydarians is repeated throughout their environment, with hovering tables and buildings being common.

Admiral Dao’s design closely resembles the side-burn wearing British extras hired to play Imperial officers in the 1970s for Star Wars. His animation model consists of Admiral Yularen’s body, and a recycled head from a Mandalorian citizen customized with a unique hair-do.

Bail Organa’s starship (the Tantive IV as it is named in the Expanded Universe) is built to more precisely resemble the model used at the start of A New Hope as Princess Leia’s ship. As such, it is not the same vessel that appears in Episode III, which was depicted by a computer-generated model with numerous architectural differences from the Episode IV version. Although many books that accompanied the release of Episode III claimed that the ship seen in Revenge of the Sith was the Tantive IV, that vessel that Bail pilots from Coruscant to Alderaan has since been identified as the Sundered Heart. The illustration below, from DK’s Star Wars Blueprints: Rebel Edition, shows the difference between the two designs. The Episode III ship is on the top, the Episode IV and Clone Wars ship is on the bottom.